BILLIONS Preview: The Cast Introduces Their Characters

Damien Lewis is returning to TV in BILLIONS, a new Showtime series centered around a wealthy hedge fund manager and a U.S. Attorney who is determined to take him down. Lewis has already introduced Bobby “Axe” Axelrod, and now the rest of the cast is giving us hints into their own respective characters.

Paul Giamatti plays Chuck Rhoades, the powerful U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Chuck has “one of the most powerful law enforcement positions in America,” says Giamatti. He’s targeting the “out of control hedge fund guys” and now Bobby is on his radar. But Chuck isn’t going after Bobby because he’s jealous of his wealth. In fact, Chuck comes from his own wealthy background. “It’s a show about the power structure of New York City. Post-9/11, post-massive economic failture. It plays out like a thriller.”

Married to Chuck is Wendy Rhoades, played by Maggie Siff. According to Siff, Wendy is a female character who is “equally powerful as these [male] titans [that she interacts with]. She knows what a lot of these men need and that gives her a kind of edge.” Wendy is the in-house performance coach as Axe Capital which, as you can imagine, has the possibility to pit her against her husband when Chuck starts gunning for Bobby.

Rounding out the main cast is Malin Akerman as Lara Axelrod, Bobby’s wife. Akerman thinks that Lara is kind of a “guy’s girl” and since she doesn’t think we see that a lot in female characters, she was eager to play her. Lara wasn’t born into money, so Akerman thinks she has a bit of an edge to her. “She’s a lovely person, but you just don’t cross her. She’s also very much a family girl.”

Don’t miss the series premiere of BILLIONS on Sunday, January 17 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.